Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is here and it’s really rather excellent. But should you jump in if you’ve never played the previous game? Do you need to have to played the original to understand Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2? Here’s what you need to know.
Can you play Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 without tackling the first game? Yes, you can. The game sets the scene, explaining the 15th century civil war you’re embroiled in. It also introduces protagonist Henry, underlining that he’s a peasant, not a noble, and Hans, the noble he’s supposedly a bodyguard for.
And that, honestly, is all you need to know to play the game. Other tidbits are doled out as the game continues, particularly during the opening section, but you won’t feel lost if this is the only Kingdom Come game you’ve played.
Unlike Mass Effect 2, where you’re out to stop the reapers, you can’t fix the civil war that’s ravaging the Kingdom of Bohemia. The game’s based on real-life history and while your actions have an impact, you won’t get to stop the war single-handedly.
As for Henry himself, the beginning of the game tries to make you care about the death of his parents, but I didn’t care that much. Instead, it’s the actions I’ve taken so far during the game that have stuck with me.
Ultimately, you can jump into Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 without playing the original and you’re not really losing anything. But if you do want to catch up, I’ll explain the story of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, as well as how it sets up this second game.
As Kingdom Come: Deliverance begins, a civil war is brewing. King Charles IV dies, leaving his son, Wenceslaus IV in charge, only he proves to be a seriously disinterested ‘ruler’. Some of the Kingdom of Bohemia’s nobles aren’t happy with this, and so they join forces with his half-brother Sigismund, who is King of Croatia and Hungary. Sigismund kidnaps Wenceslaus IV, to force him to renounce the throne, and that’s the world you step into as Henry.
Henry is an apprentice to his father, a blacksmith, and everything’s going well until his village, Skalitz, is wiped out by Sigismund’s forces. Henry escapes but his parents and most of the village’s inhabitants are slaughtered. The last memento Henry has of his parents is a sword his father made for local lord Sir Radzig Kobyla.
Related: All Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Voice Actors
We later discover that Henry is Sir Radzig’s illegitimate son, but the sword is stolen and ends up in the hands of villain Sir Istvan Toth. Toth means to conquer Bohemia with an army of mercenaries but Henry, with Lord Radzig, eventually foils him, over the course of various adventures and negotiations. Toth’s army is crushed but Toth himself escapes.
That’s essentially where the game ends, with Henry having grown as person and, as Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 begins, he’s more chilled but he’s never got his revenge. And, despite his victory over Toth, Toth is still out there somewhere and the civil war remains unresolved. He heads off with Hans, son of Sir Hanush of Leipa, another noble, to deliver a letter, which is where the second game picks up.
So the answer to do you need to have to played the original to understand Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is no, you don’t, and you won’t lose much if you haven’t.
